Waiting for winter

I’ve been suitably chastised by a number of people for not updating the blog more regularly. To be honest, I’ve resisted posting because much of what’s been happening as of late has been the rather dull day to day activities of family life – which we love, but figured it would be pretty darn boring to anyone else. It would seem, however, that Kiyomi has some pretty die-hard fans out there (the gods love you), so here’s a rather lengthy update (or at least a lot of pictures).

November was a busy travel month. The weekend following the trip to Thunder Bay, we piled into aunty Laura’s car for our first serious road trip. A seven hour drive to see Nana, Zufu and uncles Brahm and Tristan. After dropping Kohji in Toronto, so he could surprise his mom on her birthday, Laura, Kiyomi and I headed south for London. Ready to hit the highway, feel the wind in our hair (figuratively), pushing for the home stretch, we headed straight into… Toronto traffic. Now, at the best of times, I am incredibly inpatient with sitting in traffic, as are most people. However, on my first road trip with a toddler, I was the queen of anxiety. Laura stopped counting the number of times I said I hated Toronto. Kiyomi, in the end, did way better than me. On the first sign of fussiness, we pulled out the magic toddler tamer (aka the portable dvd player). There were a few minutes of nausea inducing manoeuvering on Laura’s part to get the thing set up, but once it was rolling, Buzz and Woody worked their magic again, and kept Kiyomi happily giggling most of the way to London.

The London visit itself was short, but enjoyable. Kiyomi got to meet her Zufu and uncle Tristan for the very first time, as well as her great aunt and my cousin. She wasn’t too sure what the make of them at first, but started to come around. The highlight for her was a toy monkey that Nana gave her. It actually danced, gurgled and sighed. By the time we left, Kiyomi had found a new best friend (we’re not really sure whether she knows that it’s actually an inanimate object).

After London, it was a trip to Montreal for a weekend where Kiyomi and her friend Ella did the town right. Yup, wandered St. Catherines, checked out the train station, swam in the hotel pool and basically had the run of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. I tell ya, these girls know how to travel in style. They capped the weekend off with a trip to the duck pond on Mount Royal.

It’s a good thing that Kiyomi’s been travelling across the country so much. I mean, as one of Canada’s newest citizens, she has a responsibility to this country (or so Monty Solberg informed her in the letter that accompanied her citizenship card). That’s right, after less than 6 months, Kiyomi officially has full Canadian citizenship with all its rights and privileges. I know these things are all pre-formed, electronic signatures, and all that, but you’d think somewhere along the line, someone would clue in that they were telling a 1 year old that she needed to recognize her responsibilities of citizenship. Other than the giggle we got out of reading that, it was certainly nice to get the citizenship thing out of the way. We had been told to expect to wait a year, so it’s arrival only 4 months after we sent in the application was a treat.

In other exciting news, Kiyomi went for her first ski this past weekend. Yes, there is no snow in Ottawa, yes, there is no snow anywhere in Eastern Ontario. However, when you have a dad who is ski obsessed, apparently icy slush and wet ice qualify as skiable. I grumbly followed along, dubious of the whole enterprise. Kiyomi - other than trying to deal with her parents' obvious difference of opinion on what actually constitutes snow – seemed to take the whole thing in stride. She loved sitting in the Baby Glider while it was in the living room, but was a little less sure of the whole thing when it was actually outdoors trudging its way up hill (or rather being trudged up hill by Kohji). I volunteered for the downhill portion.

We have not also had our first taste of parent panic mode! Kiyomi has been going to a toddler playgroup and music class at the local community center, just a few blocks from the house. It’s been great, and it’s close, so I can usually make it there on-time and I have no worries about weather, traffic, etc. Kiyomi and I have developed a happy little routine that I was keen on continuing. This, however, required venturing into the cut throat world of child program registration. Last time around, I had gone forward in ignorance, although I had heeded the advice of friends to make sure I registered right away – as in "as soon as they started on-line registration" at 11 pm. Not having had any problems getting the programs I wanted the first time around, I figured the advice was a little bit reactionary, until… I started hearing things like: “You’re in the Music and Movement program? How did you get into that? I tried at 11:15 and it was all booked up.” So, it would seem toddler programs are about as coveted as U2 concert tickets (the last time I dealt with on-line chaos).

All this was the lead up to last Wednesday, where I started at 10 pm., to make sure I was ready and on-line as soon as they launched on-line registration for the winter session at 11 pm. I typed in the appropriate web address… I got a screen which started with the words “oops”. I tried again… same thing. I double checked the address… it was right. I tried again… and again… I tried another computer in the house… same thing. I tried again, and again, and again, for almost an hour. By this time, I was in full scale panic. On-line registration was about to begin and I couldn’t get into the website. I cursed the inventors of the internet, I cursed their children and their children’s children. I paced, I grumbled, I snapped, I picked up the computer to hurl in across the room. As I was doing all this, Kohji calmly picked up the phone and called Kenji to ask him if he was able to get in. While I curled up in the fetal position and lambasted every soul who ever contributed to anything having to do with the home computer and bemoaned the fact that I would now have to drive to Sittisville for toddler programs and would spend the rest of my year off driving to a variety of no-mans land community clubs and recreation centers, Kohji and Kenji were busy registering Kiyomi for the music program and playgroup at our local community center. And this was only toddler programs people!! Imagine what I’m going to be like for daycares, pre-schools and universities?!

Other than that, it’s been the regular winter scene around here. Kohji and I have each been doing our little snow dances, hoping for the white stuff and trying not to completely butcher our renditions of “White Christmas”. We've also been getting Christmas preparations under way. We were rather curious to see what Kiyomi might think of a tree in the house, but in typical toddler fashion, she didn't seem to see anything strange about it at all.


This year, of course, there have been new challenges, like figuring out boots, and snowsuits, and hats, and mitts. Kiyomi is indeed taking it all in stride, and seems to be reasonably happy in her snowsuit. She especially likes the ‘jump-test’ to see if her boots are on properly. We haven't yet told her that she looks like a giant purple grape with it on though, so we're hoping she doesn't figure it out.

Kiyomi continues to grow and learn, despite our wishes that she’d stay our tiny little girl. In addition to mastering most barnyard animal sounds, she has a few funky ones, like “ssss” for snake and “huh-huh” for moose. She’s started to insist on using a real cup and wants her own spoon at mealtimes. Her comprehension hit a high point for us, when it became clear that she knew, and said, “mama” and “dada”. As for words, she’ll parrot just about anything you ask her to, although she will often put her own spin on it. Her most fun activity of late it climbing. And this includes pretty much anything – the couch, the coffee table, the highchair, a box, the toilet. It’s all pretty much irrelevant as long as she’s on top of it.

In the next month we’ll have our first Christmas as a family, which we are all very much looking forward to. We head down to London for the Miller family celebrations and back to Ottawa for the Suzuki ones. We already know that the Christmas loot for Kiyomi is going to be overwhelming thanks to the arrival in late November of her first Christmas present (thanks Gene and Kristina). Next month, we have to undertake the 6 month post-placement review (as required by the agency). It’s hard to believe it’s already been almost 6 months.

The parting shot for tonight is one of Kiyomi with one of her best buddies – her 2nd cousin Lola. Do these two look like they've been caught in the act or what? Good night from Ottawa.